Driving the PCH

After an eight day trip to California, I returned home last night to beautiful and friendly Philadelphia. I flew to California last Wednesday and stayed with Sam in Redondo Beach. After a few days of "family time", I decided to rent a car and drive north on the Pacific Coast Highway. I did not have an itinerary or an actual travel plan but my goal was to see the California coastline and hopefully make it to Mavericks (A notorious Big Wave Surf location just south of San Francisco).

I left Los Angeles on Sunday at 4:00pm and made it to Santa Barbara, CA at 9:00pm. This was a short drive, only around 90 miles. Santa Barbra was a nice place with a very neat marina and boating scene. The one thing I did not like about Santa Barbara was the amount of homeless people. But, I can’t blame them. If I was a homeless guy, I would be in a place like Santa Barbara.

I left Santa Barbara on Monday at around noon time. My route was north on the Pacific Coast Highway. Some of the towns I visited on this stretch of highway were: Prismo Beach, Morrow Bay, Cayucos, Cambria, Gorda, Big Sur (Home of the 6ft wide trees), Carmel, Pebble Beach, Monterey, Moss Landing, Santa Cruz, and finally Half Moon Bay. I stayed in Half Moon Bay on Monday night. The Mavericks Surf Break is located off the Prismo Pillar beach in Half Moon Bay.

Many miles of the Pacific Coast Highway is basically on a cliff. The drive north was straight-up scary. At certain parts of the drive, the speed limit would drop to only 15mph. There was a two-lane road, a small guardrail and then a 1000 foot drop. For some reason you feel like you are going to drive over the cliff.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up early and drove to Mavericks. Although the ocean swell was low and there were no real waves at the time, it was still surreal to walk around. Just a few months ago, a professional Big Wave surfer was killed when he drowned in the surf. The area was lined with a few makeshift memorials dedicated to a few surfers who have died trying to surf Mavericks.

After walking around for an hour or so, I fueled up and headed south. About 8 hours later I arrived at Sam’s house in Redondo Beach, CA ready for dinner.

All in all, I drove 844 miles, shot 483 pictures, 4 videos, stayed in two different hotels, ate 3 hamburgers from McDonalds, visited 5 different surf shops, spilled a slurpee at a 7-11 store and listened to everything from the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the PCH to the McKendry Brothers CD in Palo Alto, CA. I recommend this trip.

Here are a few pictures from my travels and a video of Mavericks.